EU court rules airlines to compensate passengers for delayed flights

24 December 2008

In a case brought against the Alitalia, the European Court of Justice, in a landmark judgment has ruled that airlines henceforth must pay compensation to passengers when flights they have booked in, are cancelled due to technical problems and the exception to the rule is "extraordinary events."

The European Court, whose rulings are binding on all EU member states, has ruled that carriers must compensate their passengers unless the technical issue is due to circumstances that are exceptional, such as sabotage or terrorism.

An Austrian family bought the case to court when its Alitalia flight from Vienna to Rome was cancelled just five minutes before take-off although the plane's defect had been discovered the day before, and as a result missed their connecting flight to Brindisi.

Friederike Wallentin-Hermann, filed a case in a court in Vienna when the carrier refused to pay his family £232 in compensation and £9.28 for a telephone call, and hid under the normal excuse of "extraordinary circumstances."

The Austrian Commercial Court in turn asked the European Court to define the meaning of "extraordinary circumstances" that airlines normally dole out as an excuse to avoid paying any compensation to passengers for delayed flights.

The European Court ruled that it was the airlines responsibility to prove that the circumstances are "extraordinary" and complying with the law on aircraft maintenance does not mean it can refuse to compensate passengers if mechanical failure cancels a flight.